Suspicious fire in Worcester displaces 18

WORCESTER — Fire officials are investigating the cause of a suspicious early morning two-alarm fire in a multi-family building at 94 Southgate St.

The fire, reported just before 4 this morning, displaced nine children and nine adults from the four-family apartment building. No injuries were reported. Officials said they are calling the fire suspicious due to evidence of accelerant found at the scene.

"I woke up with the sound of smoke detectors going off," said Kat Bullard, who lived in a second-floor apartment with her husband and two youg sons. She smelled wires burning. "We grabbed the kids, and we grabbed one cat and the dog."

Within minutes, Ms. Bulard said smoke just starting pouring out of the vents and the apartment filled with thick black smoke.

"We couldn't see," Ms. Bullard said. "I practically slid all the way down the back stairs."

Ms. Bullard said the family was distraught about another cat they had to leave behind, but one of the firefighters went back into the building and rescued Zoey, their 9-year-old cat.

"We have no idea who he is," Ms. Bullard said. "But we just want to thank him."

The family said they already had plans to move into an apartment building next door, so they began the process of removing salvageable items and moving them into the new apartment.The American Red Cross was at the scene of the apartment assisting the displaced families.

Fire officials were out very early this morning investigating the cause of the fire.

"We think the fire started in the basement," said Deputy Fire Chief Geoffrey Gardell. "We brought in the arson dogs to rule out that cause."

Chief Gardell said the neighborhood has had several arson fires in the past.

He said the building was uninhabitable.

One of fthe irst-floor tenants called the owner of the building, William Thompson of Worcester. He said the building was heavily engulfed in flames when he arrived early this morning. The building was built in 1900, according to city records.

Many people in the neighborhood remember the building as the scene of one of the city's most horrific crimes. In the summer of 2009, a 35-year-old woman, Julie A. Corey, is suspected of kidnapping an infant cut from the womb of a woman found wrapped in a comforter dead in the closet of one of the apartments. Ms. Corey is awaiting trial in the killing of Darlene L. Haynes, 23, of 94 Southgate St.